AROUND 280 Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia are demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and other money owed to them after their former employer, a plastic parts supplier to big Japanese companies, closed down.

The workers at Kawaguchi Manufacturing’s factory in Port Klang, Malaysia’s largest port city, were left stranded when the company withheld their wages for up to eight months before shutting down late last year. 

The workers have filed complaints in Malaysia and Bangladesh.

Such disputes have become a diplomatic sore point between Bangladesh and Malaysia, drawing attention to a small but powerful group of recruitment agencies and intermediaries who monopolise such jobs.

Asif Nazrul, an adviser to Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, met with Malaysian Home Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong in Kuala Lumpur last week. Officials were due to meet again yesterday in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

The interim government that took over in Bangladesh after the ousting of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has placed a higher priority on the plight of migrant workers, who often become trapped in debt after paying exorbitant recruitment fees to work in dismal conditions for little pay.

Workers’ rights campaigners say the situation is worsening as more people from across south Asia, sometimes losing their livelihoods due to climate change, seek work in south-east Asia.

The workers have received just 251,000 ringgit (around £44,000) of the more than three million ringgit (around £522,000) in back wages that a Malaysian employment tribunal ordered Kawaguchi to pay. 

Many have found new jobs but still have heavy debts after borrowing money to pay steep recruitment fees.

The workers, who made plastic casings for televisions and air conditioners, allege that they were sometimes required to do 24-hour shifts without breaks and to work during public holidays with no paid overtime. 

They say Kawaguchi confiscated their passports, provided inadequate housing and delayed their visa renewals.

One worker, Md Kabir Hossain, said he had borrowed more than $4,000 (£3,000) to reach Malaysia from his home town of Rangpur in Bangladesh in November 2023, after his family’s textile shop began to fail. 

“I am constantly worried about what will happen to my family,” he added.

Fellow worker Parvez Azam said: “If this goes on, we’ll die here.”

Mohamad Mohosin said he had moved to Malaysia after extreme weather caused his crops to fail. After going months without being paid, his debt has spiralled, forcing his large family in Bangladesh to borrow even more money.